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Dearest Tamron,
You’ve made some of the biggest strides of any lens manufacturer. Congratulations. You should be proud. In some eyes, you’re overshadowed by the swath of products Sigma has. But you’ve got loads of fully weather-sealed and small lenses for incredibly affordable prices. No one else has that. You provide value in a market for passionate photographers. It’s time you let your wings spread and embrace your history. There is no better time than now to bring back the Bronica brand.
I know folks have said this before. And you’ve probably laughed at the idea. It’s been done across the board. I know Sony Artisans that have told Japan to create film cameras. And they’ve said this with all seriousness due to their own experiences. They’ve been met before with laughter. The more industry ignores the market, the more it will shrink. You don’t adorn your home with plants and not water them. We, the passionate photographers, are your peace lilies and firs. If we are not watered and fed, we will shrink and die.
Some of us are newer to photography, so we won’t know the Bronica brand. Bronica is an old school medium format camera brand. They were positively fantastic, well made, and affordable. This is a pillar of the current iteration of the Tamron company. This is even more of a reason why the Bronica brand should come back.
Now, there are two ways that Bronica can come back.
- The Fujifilm GF System: Becoming a third party supporter of the Fujifilm brand will be huge. Fujifilm considers GF to be their future. And if they’re going to thrive, they need friends.
- High Megapixel Cameras: The Zeiss Otus line tried to create no-compromise lenses. Optically speaking, they did a great job. But they shot themselves in the foot with a lack of weather-sealing. Tamron can do the job better with a return of the Bronica brand.
I’m personally estimating that the camera industry will take another decade to repair itself. But the market has shown that they still love vintage products. It’s not just within the photo industry, but you can see it with cars, lifestyle, watches, etc.
So here’s another big reason to bring back Bronica–because we’re a passion industry. Many professionals who declare taxable income from photography still look down on the hobbyist. But those don’t really exist anymore. All that exists is passionate photographers. You can be a professional photographer and absolutely hate your job while having no passion. But you can also be a weekend warrior and love photography. The important folks for us to focus on in the future is anyone and everyone who cares about and supports the photography industry. If you look at watches, they’ve turned to the past. We need to do the same and stop pretending like we can always outdo the smartphone.
To do that, we need to be passionate about our brands again. Do we need Bronica cameras? Not really. But if you do, I beg you to return to using CCD sensors and give us unique image quality.
Whether you’re just a reader or a passionate photographer, think about how wonderful it would be to say that you’ve got a Bronica 80mm f1.8 Di USD on your Fujifilm GFX 100. Alternatively, think about a Bronica 85mm f1.2 RF for the Canon RF lineup of cameras. Or, what about something on par with the Sony G Master series? A Bronica 40mm f1.4 Di VC USD would be super awesome. Of course, Sony owns part of Tamron. And so I hope that Tamron works to keep their brand evolving.
